Support is growing for a request that the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District temporarily authorize selling water from its lakes.

Rich Milleson, the economic development coordinator for the village of Cadiz, made one such request to MWCD board members at their meeting Thursday in Salt Fork Lodge near Cambridge.

“It appeared to me that my statements were well-received,” he said afterward. “I’m hopeful that the board will take this under serious consideration.”

During the board meeting, MWCD Chief of Conservation Sean Logan told board members he had just received a fax from The Nature Conservancy in Ohio. The letter from John Stark, Ohio Freshwater Conservation director, expressed the Dublin-based group’s support for the MWCD’s temporary water sales to shale gas exploration firms.

“We believe than an interim policy of a few water withdrawals, carefully considered on a case-by-case basis from MWCD reservoirs are preferable to contractors removing these same volumes of water from many of the MWCD’s streams and the surrounding area, particularly during the low-flow period of late August and September,” he wrote.

Stark said The Nature Conservancy is aware that MWCD has contracted with the United States Geological Survey Ohio Water Science Center to study potential impact on lakes in the district. TNC welcomes “efforts to scientifically determine in the long-term how much water can be allocated out of the selected reservoirs without downstream impacts.”

He added that TNC looks forward to assisting MWCD “as we regard MWCD engagement with shale gas exploration and water use as a model, potentially for the entire state.”

Board members also heard from Shawn Bennett of Cambridge, field director for Energy InDepth, which also supports selling water to the oil and gas exploration industry.

Milleson, who also is a member of the MWCD development advisory committee and a former assistant director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, spoke during the public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting.

No action was expected because the item wasn’t on the agenda, but Milleson asked that it be reconsidered and put on the agenda for the Aug. 24 meeting.

In making his request, Milleson cited the benefits of economic development and improved services.

Cadiz had planned to sell untreated water from Tappan Lake to companies to use as they drill for oil and natural gas in the Tuscarawas Valley, where exploration has been under way for about two years.

In May, the proposal seemed to be moving toward a vote at the July board meeting. But the matter stalled after the June 2 annual meeting of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy Court in New Philadelphia when environmental groups spoke out against selling water from MWCD-owned reservoirs.

MWCD officials suspended such potential sales June 7 pending a study by the U.S.G.S. Ohio Water Science Center. U.S.G.S. is conducting a comprehensive water withdrawal study on Atwood, Clendening and Leesville lakes. After research is completed, a report to MWCD is expected by the end of 2012.

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Milleson also encouraged MWCD to authorize a similar study for Piedmont, Tappan and Senecaville lakes because they’re also in the Utica Shale exploration region.

MWCD spokesman Darrin Lautenschleger said after the meeting that no agreements are in place with U.S.G.S. for studies at other MWCD lakes. He added that MWCD staff told him agreements are expected to be reached in upcoming months with U.S.G.S. for studies of other lakes in the district.

Milleson asked the board to authorize Cadiz to sell water until a permanent decision is made based upon results of the U.S.G.S. study.